Brett W. Horton

Applying the MBTI® to Hospitality Education

This study examines the personality profiles of 221 hospitality and tourism management students using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Form G. The study concludes that hospitality students substantially over represent the extraverted profile compared to the US college graduate population as a whole. This deviation from the population, along with deviations relative to the 16 individual profiles, is examined relative to the implications to hospitality education and industry training. The study suggests that the profile of the student must be considered to be most effective in the classroom.

Wellness: Its Impact on Student Grades and Implications for Business

Personal wellness, manifested as physical, spiritual, intellectual, emotional, social, environmental, and occupational dimensions, are discussed in a hospitality business context. Each dimension is analyzed as to its importance to student success, as measured by grade point average (GPA), and its implications for employee productivity and corporate profitability. University students tracked and reported how they spent their time relative to these seven dimensions over a 2-week period. Physical, social, environmental, and occupational dimensions all affect a students GPA. Whereas wellness is as much habitual as it is learned, the authors make a case for wellness education in hospitality programs. Moreover, there is evidence to support a relationship between wellness and both individual and corporate values.

Shifting from the Sage on Stage to the Guide on the Side: The Impact on Student Learning and Course Evaluations

Brett W. Horton is an assistant professor of Hotel, Restaurant, & Institution Management at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Instructors traditionally have taught using a lecture format and are more familiar with this style of teaching. They have spent years improving their delivery of material, changing from the chalkboard to overheads, and lately moving to computer projection and on-line delivery. Moreover, as students they have taken standardized exams, and now as instructors, they give standardized exams to measure learning. However, these teaching styles do not assist the student in becoming life-long learners relative to a given topic. likely develop the life long learning skills of students (Bloom, 1956, Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1991, Slavin, 1990).

Employee Wellness in the Private Club Industry

Employee wellness in the private club industry is discussed relative to the seven wellness dimensions: physical, intellectual, social, occupational, spiritual, emotional, and environmental. Food and beverage employees (n = 125) responded to a set of 42 holistic wellness questions describing their behaviors, nine demographic questions, and one question on their perceived health. Behavior questions were a subset of the validated 100 question TestWell, Wellness Inventory. The regression model was found to be a significant predictor of perceived health. As expected, the researchers of this study found that the seven dimensions are significantly correlated, suggesting that improving employee wellness involves a holistic approach to improving all dimensions of wellness. Significant differences were found among respondents based on job type, education, ethnicity, and perceived health relative to the seven wellness dimensions. Insight is provided as to the relationship of the wellness dimensions to club management and creating employee wellness opportunities for club employees.

Meyers Brigs Type Indicator and Academic Performance in Hospitality Education

Abstract This study examines the personality profile of 242 undergraduate hospitality and tourism management students using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®). Comparisons were made between high-and low-academic performers in order to establish whether the overall academic performance of students is associated with the MBTI personality profiles. Findings reveal that students identified as ESFP and ESTP personality types, specifically perceivers, entering into hospitality and tourism education are less likely to have the MBTI personality characteristics most associated with top academic performance. Pedagogical ideas are provided to help instructors and individual students use knowledge of MBTI in their college education and subsequently on into their professional career.